Mumia:Long Distance Revolutionary

"Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary" is more of a tribute than a hard-hitting piece of American filmmaking, which is too bad, because the subject - the imprisonment of ex-Black Panther figure Mumia Abu-Jamal - deserves a thorough, serious examination.

But by incessantly preaching to the choir (i.e. the far left) and essentially ignoring Abu-Jamal's 1982 murder conviction (in the killing of a Philadelphia police officer), this unfocused yet sometimes effective documentary unintentionally raises suspicions about its revolutionary star. Why not take the controversial murder case head-on, instead of letting it remain the elephant in the room?

We are expected to assume, without any concrete evidence, that Abu-Jamal was placed on Death Row as a conspiracy to silence him. It may be true, but we need more than experts waxing poetic about Abu-Jamal's greatness - and lambasting the government's forays into Vietnam, Iraq, et al. - to make a decision.

Director Stephen Vittoria, obviously close to his material, would have better served his film by cutting the two hours of tributes in half (let Angela Davis, Cornel West, Alice Walker and a few others do the talking) and adding more details about the murder case. (Abu-Jamal's death sentence was later overturned.)

What the documentary does well is make the case for Abu-Jamal's eloquence, prolific writings and dogged determination to fight class injustices from behind bars. And that voice. His is a voice that was born for radio and television - and revolution. After hearing and watching him, it's not hard to understand why he has so many admirers around the world.

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